Need advice... accidentally let a fire smoldering all day

[Dave K]

Hey guys. I have burned very hot and taken every precaution to avoid creosote but today I messed up. Tried to start a fire this morning so that the house would stay relatively warm while we were at work. I had to leave for work before the fire could get going really well so I put it out (by throwing some ash on top and closing all the air to the stove). Waited awhile to make sure it was out and left for work.

Just got home and realized that it never really went out and has been smoldering all day. How bad does this sound? It's the first time I've had a lame fire and know some creosote must've formed but I'm really hoping that it is not a big deal. I'm burning a very hot fire now in hopes that any creosote will burn away and not build up enough to cause a chimney fire.

What are your thoughts? Should I be concerned or do these things happen to the best of us and as long as I don't let it happen again I should be fine?

Thanks for the advice

 

[cptoneleg]

I would have never tried to put it out, just turned air down like I usually run it and go to work. These stoves are not as dangerous as some make you think.
Clean your chimney every year. You will be fine.

 

[Dave K]

I would have never tried to put it out, just turned air down like I usually run it and go to work. These stoves are not as dangerous as some make you think.
Clean your chimney every year. You will be fine.

Thanks. I put it out because i didn't want to leave the air controls open too much and risk overfiring the stove while i was out of the house. The opposite happened and now I probably have a nice build up of creosote in the chimney. You live and you learn, I guess. Never will i try to put it out and leave it again. Best thing i can do is make sure i give myself enough time in the morning to make sure the fire has settled in.

 

[red oak]

After one day? I think you'll be okay! If you're not, I think about a million people around the country who burn wood are in trouble!

Seriously, I also have a Fisher, and I turn down the air and let it burn slow each day while I'm at work, and again at night when I'm asleep. I clean my chimney each year and have never had more than a small amount of flaky creosote. I wouldn't worry if I were you.

 

[Dave K]

After one day? I think you'll be okay! If you're not, I think about a million people around the country who burn wood are in trouble!

Seriously, I also have a Fisher, and I turn down the air and let it burn slow each day while I'm at work, and again at night when I'm asleep. I clean my chimney each year and have never had more than a small amount of flaky creosote. I wouldn't worry if I were you.

Thanks red. Makes me feel better.

I guess I'm just overly cautious from reading this site 24/7.

How low do you turn down the air for the overnight burn?

 

[Snotrocket]

One smoldering fire won't hurt anything. Burn a nice hot one tonight and clean the pipes out.

 

[red oak]

Thanks red. Makes me feel better.

I guess I'm just overly cautious from reading this site 24/7.

How low do you turn down the air for the overnight burn?

Usually about 5-6 hours. I go to bed 10-11 and wife is usually up 4-5. Usually there are still coals and she can just throw some wood on and open up the air and it takes right off.

 

[molly1414]

If you are in trouble after one day then my neighbor is living on borrowed time. Guys has a smoldering fire all day every day with smoke billowing from his stove pipe.

 

[pen]

I agree that one smoldering fire shouldn't hurt you with a good chimney. I disagree that a hot fire will clean it out (for that to happen you'd need too ignite a small chimney fire).

I had the same thing happen to me last night. I loaded the stove with the same old wood, the same as always, and for whatever reason that SOB just wouldn't cooperate. This is wood that has been cut, split, stacked for 2.5 years, and I've been burning since the beginning of the season. I stayed up with it for an extra 45 minutes and it still wasn't cooperating no matter what I tried. Since I have a solid install that I inspected recently I knew I have nothing to be worried about so even though the temps weren't were I wanted them to be, after giving it as much extra time as I could (45 mins) I set a small chip of stone on the stove top thermometer next to the needle (to tell me what the high temp hits after I went to bed for learning purposes in this situation) I set the air to it's normal cruise position and called it a night.

After waking up in the morning, the temps rose to about 25 degrees less than a normal burn would have as indicated by that sliver of stone. The only thing I can figure for why that happened last night was that I might have placed the splits in such a way that gave a hard time for air getting through them, or else just hit the jackpot with a few splits that happened to have a bit of water come through the roof under my wood pile and keep them from getting as seasoned as they should.

Regardless, live and learn. I did what I did because I know the setup is safe and even if it didn't burn optimally, I didn't need to worry about the house burning down. Gaining that knowledge of what to do and when comes from experience and following the book. I can't fault you a bit for what you tried, and give you much credit for being so cognizant and will again reiterate that the one misfire shouldn't hurt you so long as the regular inspections still look good and the cap is keeping clear.

In the meantime, do as you did the other night,,,,, make decisions that seem legit for what you have to work with based upon good practice.

Well done.

pen

 

[rudysmallfry]

I can't imagine one bad burn is going to create that much buildup. I've done that twice this month. Log that absolutely would not light. Gave up, shut the door, came back 12 hours later to find it gone. Just today I had a piece of pine in with the rest of the load and it shot the temps way up when I wasn't looking. Smelled that too hot steel smell and found the stack at 700 degrees. Nothing bad happened and it cleaned out the pipes. Always good to be on the safe side, but I wouldn't worry about one or two bad burns.

 

[dafattkidd]

Hey Dave, we all have some creosote build up in our chimneys. That's why we clean them every year. YOU ARE GOING TO GET CREOSOTE BUILD UP! Don't be afraid of it. Just do your best to burn clean when you can. Clean your chimney a couple times a year. You'll be fine. It's good that your cautious, but don't allow yourself to get anxious about every crappy fire you have. It happens to all of us once in a while. No big deal at all. However, I would say though that the practice of starting a fire and attempting to put it out is probably a bad idea. Something else worth noting: I don't have a pre EPA stove and have never run one, so my exact knowledge on your unit is crap.

 

[Dave K]

Thanks everyone. I definitely won't try to put out any more fires. It's great to have this community to lean on and set my mind at ease.

Cheers!